Stephen Harper: King of the classless photo-op.

Over at the Winnipeg Free Press, Mai Rabson points out Stephen Harper's sleazy tendency to preen for the cameras every chance he gets:

Late last night we got a photo from the prime minister's office of Stephen Harper on the telephone, presumably with UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, discussing the situation in Haiti.

Today Defence Minister Peter Mackay is posing in Halifax as the HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Halifax leave for Haiti.

At about the same time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen, were staging a photo op making a donation to the Canadian Red Cross.

Enough already. Stop posing for photo ops and just get on with the business of helping Haiti.

Ah, but that just gives us a chance to go back in time and lay a serious towel snap on one Steve Janke:

There is already an excellent post on the subject of Stephen Harper's decision to divert to Cyprus to pick up Canadians evacuated from Lebanon.

One of the comments is interesting, though:

I can't even begin to imagine Chretien or Martin doing something similar. And even if they did, they certainly wouldn't ditch the media that were travelling with them - the photo-op would be just too good to pass up.

You don't have to imagine. I'll cross post my piece on this story that directly compares Jean Chretien's actions during a time of need. Enjoy.

Yes, haha!, those Liberals and their obsession with dragging along photographers to record their every noble move, what a bunch of self-absorbed narcissists, unlike Janke's idol King Stephen as he allegedly quotes the MSM (emphasis towel-snappingly added):

"Because of the seriousness of the situation and our relative proximity to Cyrpus, we have decided to take the Canadian Forces aircraft we have been travelling on to help airlift evacuees back home," Harper said in a statement. "The aircraft will be stripped down to a skeleton staff."

Media travelling with the prime minister have been bumped to commercial flights for their return home to Canada. Only Harper's wife, Laureen, and a couple of his communications staff, will go to Cyprus with him, officials said.

Amusingly, the very first commenter "Rob" drags the eJankulator back to reality:

Did you shorten this sentence to save space?

"Only Harper's wife, Laureen, a couple of his communications staff AND HIS OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER, will join him on the 3 1/2-hour flight to Cyprus"

Why, yes, Steve -- despite your careful manipulation of the facts, that's exactly what happened:

Quote

The plane will be "stripped down" with as few crew members on board as possible to allow for more room for the stranded Canadians, Harper said. The rest of the Canadian delegation and reporters who have been travelling with the prime minister have been told that they cannot stay on the plane for the same reason.

Officials said only Harper's wife, Laureen, and a couple of his communications staff and his official photographer, will fly to Cyprus with him.

It's one thing to spin. But it's really pretty tacky when you just flat-out lie. Don't you think so, Steve?

P.S. Amusingly, Steve's announced cross-post of that piece over at his own blog has disappeared down the memory hole. I'm guessing I know why.

AFTERSNARK: Note well the annoying habit of criticizing the opposition for what you imagine they would do:

I can't even begin to imagine Chretien or Martin doing something similar. And even if they did, they certainly wouldn't ditch the media that were travelling with them - the photo-op would be just too good to pass up.

Yes, let's criticize Chretien and Martin, not for what they did, but for what you imagine they might do under those circumstances. Because it's always easier to rag on someone if you can just fabricate their behaviour out of thin air. That saves all kinds of time doing, you know, research and stuff.